Ohio State has been on top of the Big Ten mountain for the better part of a decade. But their run of conference titles came to an end in 2021. There’s a chance that things go south in 2022 as well.
In a recent feature for 247Sports, college football analyst Brad Crawford outlined what the worst case scenario for the Buckeyes might look like in 2022. Crawford believes it’s inconceivable that Ohio State finish with fewer than 10 wins unless injuries take their toll or the new defense doesn’t gel.
The worse case scenario would be a season-opening loss to Notre Dame and losses to some combination of Wisconsin, Michigan State and Michigan. Those losses would likely stem from the aforementioned injuries or newly-minted defensive coordinator Jim Knowles failing to get his defense up to par.
Via 247Sports:
There’s no way Ohio State finishes short of 10 wins this season unless the Buckeyes endure a slew of injuries and Jim Knowles’ revised defense fails to figure it out during his first campaign. That being said, this is the worst case and would involve losses to Notre Dame in the opener as well as some combination of setbacks against Wisconsin, Michigan State and Michigan.
Ohio State suffered their first loss against Michigan in a decade in their final regular season game. That loss knocked the Buckeyes out of the Big Ten title game and the College Football Playoff field in the process.
The Buckeyes went on to win the Rose Bowl and finished No. 6 in the AP polls. But that’s little comfort as they once again fell short of their national title ambitions.
There’s a case to be made that failing to win a national title is itself the worst case scenario.
What do you believe Ohio State’s record will be in 2022?